BETA Unicode 7.0.0

The next version of the Unicode Standard will be Version 7.0.0, planned for release in
June, 2014. The major feature of this release is the addition of
significant new repertoire to the standard: 2,834 new characters are encoded, including characters for 23
new scripts. There are also many additions to existing blocks, including several hundred new pictographs
and symbols—many originating from the wingdings and webdings sets. The new currency sign for the ruble has also
been encoded in this version.

A beta version of the 7.0.0 Unicode Character Database files is available for public review.
We strongly encourage implementers to review the summary description, download the beta 7.0.0 Unicode Character Database files,
and test their programs with the new data, well before the end of the beta period. It is especially important
to review the Notable Issues for Beta Reviewers.

We encourage users to check the code charts carefully
to verify correctness of the new characters added to Unicode 7.0.0 and to ensure that there are no regressions
in glyph shapes for previously encoded characters.

Related Unicode Technical Standards

In addition to the Unicode Standard proper, two other Unicode Technical
Standards have significant text and data file updates that are
correlated with the new additions for Unicode 7.0.0. Review of that text
and data is also encouraged during the beta review period.

Review and Feedback

Any feedback should be
reported using the contact form. Comments on the Unicode Standard Version 7.0.0
or the Unicode Character Database data files, should refer to the beta review
Public Review
Issue #271. Comments on specific Version 7.0.0 UAXes and UTSes
should refer to the respective Public
Review Issue Numbers for each document, where available.

The comment period ends
April 28, 2014.
All substantive technical comments must have been received by that date for
consideration at the May UTC meeting. Editorial comments (typos,
etc.) may be still submitted after that date for consideration in the final
editorial work.

Note: All beta files may be updated, replaced, or
superseded by other files at any time. The beta files will be
discarded once Unicode 7.0.0 is final. It is inappropriate to cite
these files as other than a work in progress.No
products or implementations should be released based on the beta
UCD data files -- use only the final, approved Version 7.0.0 data
files, expected in July 2014.

The Unicode Consortium provides early access to updated versions of the data files
and text to give reviewers and developers as much time as possible to ensure a problem-free adoption of
Version 7.0.0.

The assignment of characters for Unicode 7.0.0 is now stable. There will be no further
additions or modifications of code points and no further changes to character names.
Please do not submit feedback requesting changes to code points
or character names for Unicode 7.0.0, as such feedback is not actionable.

One of the main purposes of the beta review period is to verify and
correct the preliminary character property assignments in the Unicode Character
Database. Reviewers should check for property changes to existing Unicode 6.3.0
characters, as well as the property values for the new Unicode 7.0.0 character
additions. The Auxiliary
HTML charts include the new characters highlighted in yellow, with names appearing when hovering over a cell. These charts
may be useful for reviewing information such as the default collation order,
Script property assignments, and so forth during beta review.

To facilitate verification of the property changes and additions, diffable XML versions
of the Unicode Character Database are available. These XML
files are dated, so that people can check the details of changes that occurred
during the beta review period. The XML
files are in the http://www.unicode.org/Public/7.0.0/diffs/ directory. For more information,
see the
diffs.readme.txt
file.

The beta review period is a good opportunity to add support for the new
Unicode 7.0.0 characters in internal versions of software, so that software can
be tested to verify that the new characters and property assignments do not cause
problems when upgraded to Version 7.0.0 of Unicode.

Notable Issues for Beta Reviewers

Changes to Unicode Standard Annexes

Some of the Unicode Standard Annexes have modifications for
Unicode 7.0.0, often in coordination with changes to character properties.
Most notably for Unicode 7.0.0:

Core Specification Update

The core specification is undergoing extensive review, with reorganization
and many additions for Version 7.0.0. Although the draft text for Version 7.0.0
is not yet available, specific reports of any technical or editorial
issues in the currently published core specification
are also welcome during the beta review
period. Such reports will be taken into consideration for corrections
to the Version 7.0.0 draft. (Note: The Unicode Consortium has ongoing
opportunities for subject-matter volunteers: experts interested in contributing to or
editing relevant parts of the core specification or other Unicode specifications.)

Addition of a System for Writing Shorthand

Version 7.0.0 adds, for the first time, the encoding of a shorthand notational system
in the standard. ("Shorthand notational system" in this sense refers to a system for
writing shorthand, as used historically for taking dictation, or other fast manual
handwriting.) See the Duployan block, U+1BC0..U+1BC9F, and the Shorthand Format
Controls block, U+1BCA0..U+1BCAF. Shorthand notations introduce new classes of layout
issues, and implementation of rendering will be difficult. The UTC is interested,
in particular, in receiving any implementers' feedback on the correctness of character
property assignments for Duployan and for shorthand format controls.

Other Issues

Please also check the following specific items carefully:

This version of the Unicode Standard adds many new scripts, so implementations
that process script data should be checked very carefully.

There have been significant additions to script extensions. Implementations
of script extensions should also be checked carefully.

The new character repertoire is diverse and complex. It includes new case
pairs and new uppercase letters which form case pairs with previously encoded
lowercase letters. It also includes punctuation marks whose line-breaking and
terminal-punctuation properties should be examined closely.

Note that some of the newly added scripts, and in particular, Manichaean and
Psalter Pahlavi, have complex shaping behavior. New Joining_Group property values
have been defined for Manichaean. Two Manichaean letters have received the
Joining_Type property value L, which previously had been assigned to only one
Phags-pa character.

Parsers of @missing directives should be aware of the directives added in
PropertyValueAliases.txt for the default values of the General_Category,
Lowercase_Mapping, Titlecase_Mapping, and Uppercase_Mapping properties.

In PropertyValueAliases.txt, the @missing directives for the default values
of Bidi_Paired_Bracket_Type and Jamo_Short_Name were moved to the end of the
enumerations of value aliases for those properties. The newly-added @missing
directive for General_Category was similarly placed after the General_Category
property value aliases. This placement should enable single-pass parsing.

Parsers of NamesList.txt should take note of the fact that beginning
with this version, the repertoire of characters found in subheads in
the file extends beyond ASCII values. This may break certain assumptions
about handling that data that parsers may be making. (Note that NamesList.txt
has been posted in UTF-8 since Version 6.2, but for reasons having to do with
tooling restrictions, the repertoire associated with various elements of
the file is still limited to the Latin-1 range: U+0020..U+00FF.)

According to the resolution of PRI #251,
three ranges of enclosed capital
Latin alphabetic symbols, U+1F130..U+1F149, U+1F150..U+1F169, and U+1F170..U+1F189,
were assigned the contributory binary property Other_Uppercase and, by derivation,
the properties Uppercase, Alphabetic, and corresponding values of text segmentation
properties.

The General_Category and Line_Break property values of the two ornate parentheses,
U+FD3E..U+FD3F, which do not mirror and which are input visually, have been swapped
(General_Category: Ps ↔ Pe; Line_Break: OP ↔ CL)
to correctly reflect their usage in RTL contexts.

The Script property value of U+061C ARABIC LETTER MARK (ALM) was changed from
Arabic to Common for consistent treatment with the similar bidirectional controls
LRM and RLM.

There are additional property changes listed in
UAX #44,
Unicode Character Database that may affect some implementations.

The following blocks are new in Unicode 7.0.0. Check implementations
carefully for any range or property value assumptions regarding
these new blocks.

Range

Block Name

1AB0..1AFF

Combining Diacritical Marks Extended

A9E0..A9FF

Myanmar Extended-B

AB30..AB6F

Latin Extended-E

102E0..102FF

Coptic Epact Numbers

10350..1037F

Old Permic

10500..1052F

Elbasan

10530..1056F

Caucasian Albanian

10600..1077F

Linear A

10860..1087F

Palmyrene

10880..108AF

Nabataean

10A80..10A9F

Old North Arabian

10AC0..10AFF

Manichaean

10B80..10BAF

Psalter Pahlavi

11150..1117F

Mahajani

111E0..111FF

Sinhala Archaic Numbers

11200..1124F

Khojki

112B0..112FF

Khudawadi

11300..1137F

Grantha

11480..114DF

Tirhuta

11580..115FF

Siddham

11600..1165F

Modi

118A0..118FF

Warang Citi

11AC0..11AFF

Pau Cin Hau

16A40..16A6F

Mro

16AD0..16AFF

Bassa Vah

16B00..16B8F

Pahawh Hmong

1BC00..1BC9F

Duployan

1BCA0..1BCAF

Shorthand Format Controls

1E800..1E8DF

Mende Kikakui

1F650..1F67F

Ornamental Dingbats

1F780..1F7FF

Geometric Shapes Extended

1F800..1F8FF

Supplemental Arrows-C

General Issues

For current proposed updates to the particular UAXes, see
Proposed Updates for Standard Annexes
or use the links in the navigation bar on this page.
Particular issues in the UAXes may also be the focus of specific
Public Review Issues.
Each proposed textual change in a UAX is highlighted, so that you can focus
your review on those sections if you have limited time. The changes
are also listed in detail in the Modifications sections (linked from the table
of contents of each document), and are summarized in
UAX changes,
so you can check on those areas that might be of most
interest.

Some links between beta documents and the proposed
updates for UAXes will not work correctly during the
beta review period. This is a known problem which does
not need to be reported, as such links are links to
the eventual final names or revision numbers for the
released versions.

Stability

Certain character properties for newly assigned characters cannot be
changed after the formal release of each version of the standard, because of the
Character Encoding Stability Policy.
Such character property values need special attention during the beta review process, as they
cannot be corrected after publication. These include:

Any property affecting Unicode Normalization, including Decomposition_Mapping, Canonical_Combining_Class, and Composition_Exclusion.

The determination of whether a character is included in identifiers (XID_Start, XID_Continue).